Speaking of Astronauts...

Lt. Col. John Glenn Jr. (l) flew with the U.S. Marine Corps in Korea
while Maj. Gus Grissom (r) was flying with the U.S. Air Force,
logging some 102 missions over the peninsula.

Swingman for a Wingman
Sixty-five years ago, squadron leader and future astronaut John Glenn flew the F-86 Sabre, in Korea, with baseball great Ted Williams as his wingman.

(Sources: "Remembering Jack Buck," by Rich Wolfe, p. 23; and Wikipedia)

The Bottom Line:Scholarships to Students

WITH THE 2012 GRISSOM CLASSIC less than three months away, preparations are revving up and guests are stepping into line.

Agenda for the day is a good one if unchanged since the 2011 Classic. It looks like this…

11 a.m. E.S.T.    Registration

               Noon    Shotgun Start

                 6:00    Social/Cocktails

                 6:30    Banquet

               ~7:15    Program

In-clubhouse activities might also include a silent auction and/or Q&A with the McDonnell-Douglas engineers; maybe some demonstrations with model rockets…. Time will tell. Those possibilities are still “under develop-
ment.”

Other agenda items are confirmed, among them golf at 1 p.m., dinner at 7 and the program beginning at about 7:40. Leading off the program will be introduction of the Club’s four newest Grissom Scholars. Their identities will be announced here in mid- to late-May. All four will begin their Purdue careers in August.

Following introduction of the scholars, the “entertain-
ment” portion of the program will begin. Far from any singing and dancing, the grist of the entertainment will see the Club introduce Dr. Barrett Caldwell – for his third consecutive Classic – who will, in turn, introduce Mr. Lowell Grissom and four engineers out of St. Louis. Grissom and the engineers are alumni of McDonnell-Douglas.

The four engineers are Mr. Norman Beckel, Mr. Dean Purdy, Mr. Jerry Roberts and Mr. Bob Schepp. All of them were at the leading edge of the race to the moon. McDonnell-Douglas assigned all of them, with their respective skills, to projects: Mercury and Gemini.

As each is introduced, he will take his place on the stage, and share in a panel discussion that will reminisce of Gus, the Space Race and “the time of their lives.”

Another “Surprise”: The Art of the Tease

In the spring of 2010, Dr. Caldwell promised to bring “a big surprise” to that year’s Classic. His grant of an additional $6,000 in scholarship money (from the Indiana Space-Grant Consortium) was more than a thrill for the evening’s Grissom Scholars. One year later, in 2011, he returned with an identical amount that again boosted winners’ scholarships.

Dr. Caldwell has already promised to “spring (another) surprise” at this year’s Classic, but all parties will have to wait until June 21 to learn what it is.

Signing Up for the Classic

The day’s Grissom Classic is an 18-hole golf scramble. Even at this early date, golfers are reminded to keep rough track of your early-season scores, the better to calculate your handicaps on June 21.

Golfers are welcome to register as foursomes, triplets, pairs and singles. If you arrive with fewer than three teammates, the Club will assign you to fill out a foursome.

Sign-up forms will be enclosed with your next Club newsletter, in mid-May. Forms are also available from Craig Knies (c.knies@insightbb.com) or through this blog. We will accept entries, including walk-ups, be you Club members or not, until noon of June 21.

A Brother's Story

WHAT WOULD BE a Grissom Classic without a classic Grissom?

        Happily, Club members need not experience such an event. Reason: On June 21 the Club will be honored to host
LOWELL and BOB-
ETTE GRISSOM on the occasion of their second visit to the Classic.

Lowell is Gus' younger brother, and is the youngest of Dennis and Cecille Grissom’s four children. He grew up in Mitchell, Ind., and graduated from Mitchell High and Indiana U.

            Lowell and Bobette are the parents of two children, John and Susan.

            He began a career with McDonnell-Douglas in 1961, a career that put him to work as director of sales and marketing in the Information Systems Group. The career sent the Grissoms to several posts within the United States until he retired, in 1987. As he was retiring from McDonnell-Douglas, he became president of Professional Event Planners, Inc., a job he held until 2010.

            Grissom has been a director of the Astronaut Memorial Foundation since 1995. He currently serves as a member of the board of trustees for AMF, a member of the board of the Apollo 1 Memorial Foundation, and as an advisor to the board of the Space Museum, in Bonne Terre, Mo.

Grissom has spoken nationally about his famous brother and the U.S. space program, and has appeared in the Discovery Channel documentaries "When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions" and "Liberty Bell 7: The Lost Spacecraft," and “The Boilermakers: Gus Grissom,” produced by Mr. John Doty and Purdue University.

            The Purdue Club Welcomes both of you as all of us salute and celebrate together yet again!

People in MotionTend to Stay in Motion

QUESTION: How many rocket scientists does it take to change a light bulb?

ANSWER:  One  (But who's counting?)

BETTER QUESTION: How many rocket scientists does it take to send men to the moon and return them safely to the earth?

ANSWER: Thousands!

FACT IS, the innocent “Beep – Beep – Beep” of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik satellite, in October 1957, was probably the quietest wake-up call in modern history. Admittedly, it caught America somewhat flat-footed, but this nation’s response was quick, and its success certain.

Success was ensured by thousands of engineers who figured out everything from ballistics in zero G to life-support in an environment of zero oxygen. And they did it quickly! Four of those engineers will guest with Club members at our “Gus” Grissom Golf Classic and Scholarship Banquet – our nineteenth annual – on Thursday, June 21, 2012.

Engineers who have confirmed attendance at the Classic are…

Mr. Norman Beckel Jr. and wife Marlene,

    Mr. Dean Purdy and wife Carol,

        Mr. Jerry Roberts and wife Sandra, and

            Mr. Bob Schepp.

All began their aerospace careers with McDonnell-Douglas Aerospace, in St. Louis, and put it all on the line throughout projects Mercury and Gemini and beyond. Herewith, your Purdue Alumni Club introduces the guests of the 2012 Grissom Classic…

“To Be Sure You Will KnowWhat I'm Saying…”

HOW MANY KINDS OF RADIO existed in 1959? People listened to AM and FM. Radar had been around since World War II. “UHF” and “VHF” were terms understood by few outside of scientific circles. “TV,” although gaining popularity, was primitive. (Remember black-&-white TV?)

How many forms of radio components could the casual observer squeeze into a Mercury capsule that was no larger than a very small car?

Fortunately, NASA found engineers such as NORMAN BECKEL, and instructed him – and them – to load the capsule with at least seven radio transmitters and receivers. The move to miniaturize was ON!

Beckel was ready for the job. After graduating from Penn State (E.E., 1958), he spent the first two of his McDonnell-Douglas years preparing the F4H Phantom for flight. In February 1959, M-D assigned him to the new Mercury Manned Space Program, where he would work in the Spacecraft Communication Systems Group.

After a few months with Team Beckel on the job, the Mercury capsules were crammed with HF and UHF transceivers, UHF, S- and C-Band radar beacons, a recovery beacon, intercom and supporting antenna systems to name only a few – and the first capsule was still months from launch.

“I served as the McDonnell-Douglas communications engineer in the blockhouse for astronauts Shepard and Glenn,” said Beckel in February.

True to form, after Mercury Beckel returned to St. Louis and immediately re-started the process, this time with Project: Gemini in his role as lead communications engineer. During the Beckel years, there were no significant communication problems with Mercury nor Gemini.

Much of Beckel’s post-Gemini career involved him in classified programs, among them Gemini B and the Hexagon spy satellite. His work on the Tomahawk cruise missile rounded out his thirty-seven years with M-D. He retired in 1994 as a subcontract manager with Project: Tomahawk.

"Go West, Young Man"

ENGINEER DEAN PURDY began his life in Lima, Ohio, but soon found himself on the westward trail that Horace Greeley so long ago advised – and it has served him well. After high school in Lima, Purdy enrolled in the Indiana Institute of Technology, in Fort Wayne. At IIT, he had little difficulty en route to earning a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1955. His timing could not have been better, as prime time for space-minded engineers was just around the corner.

As with so many engineers of the day, Purdy’s skills were about to come into ever-greater demand, strongest coming from McDonnell-Douglas Aerospace, who lured him further west, to St. Louis, in September of ’55. At the time, few knew where the job would take him, but “over the next thirty-nine-plus years, I worked on one Mach 2 jet fighter program, three missile programs and eight space programs, including five manned space programs,” recalled Purdy in February.

“I joined the Mercury team in early 1959, working in the electrical power and sequential systems design group, and stayed with the Mercury program until completion,” said Purdy. After a quick switch to Project: Gemini, Purdy was a key member of the electrical design team that monitored the electrical wiring system and fuel-cell development. Soon, he would know every detail of Gus’ “Molly Brown” and those that followed, for he was assigned to the Gemini Operations Team responsible for the electrical test complex design and the spacecraft’s electrical systems testing.

After Gemini, Purdy joined the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program to lead the electrical design of the heat-shield qualification vehicle.

In his spare time, Purdy gave his full attention and expertise to program management of the last two orbital attitude maneuvering system pods for the space-shuttle program, the modular power subsystem for NASA’s multi-mission modular spacecraft, electrophoresis operations in space and the transporter electrical storage system and external lighting modules for the international space station.

He retired in 1994 as director of military and space electronics. These days, Dean, wife Carol and hundreds of retired M-D co-workers cover all points of the compass as they travel to tell the stories of their involvement in leading America’s way to the moon. We members of the Purdue Alumni Club Welcome you to the 2012 Grissom Classic and Scholarship Banquet!

"Ignition and Liftoff!"

MR. JERRY ROBERTS graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1959 and, within a month, was an electrical engineer with McDonnell-Douglas Astronautics and Project: Mercury’s Automatic Stabilization and Control System team. Sounds simple, but his job description involved him with Mercury’s autopilot system, horizon sensor and attitude indicator. “We were responsible for design definition, hardware procurement, testing, evaluation and system integration. I frequently briefed the astronauts regarding system operation and status,” Roberts said in February.

Roberts worked with Mercury for the entirety of the series, then quickly switched to Project: Gemini in time to work with Gus and co-pilot John Young as they prepared the “Molly Brown” for the first launch of the Gemini series, on March 23, 1965. Roberts and Grissom worked tirelessly on the Gemini craft, trying to give it the “feel” of a jet with a control stick. That philosophy took root, and the Gemini capsule was soon dubbed the "Gusmobile.” As one astronaut described it, “It felt like we were flying this one, and not just along for the ride.”

Roberts and scores of McDonnell-Douglas engineers spent the Mercury and Gemini years commuting between St. Louis and the Cape. After Gemini, Roberts stayed with McDonnell-Douglas while accepting assignments to the Manned Orbiting Lab, Skylab and development of the Tomahawk missile. By the time he retired, in 1989, he was chief design engineer and department manager of all McDonnell-Douglas electrical and mechanical design engineers.

With the advent of Skylab, Roberts was again splitting time between St. Louis and the Cape. His assignment was to coordinate the design and definition of electrical systems in the M-D hardware, to ensure safe connections between the M-D hardware and other contractors’ hardware. And soon, “I was again a member of the launch team for initial hardware module launch.”

“I pursued a job with McDonnell Aircraft strictly because they had received the Mercury contract, and I had a strong interest in space exploration,” added Roberts. “My greatest thrill was a close working association with the original astronauts, and being in the blockhouse when the vault door closed, the rocket engines ignited and we had liftoff!”